Information about large IT suppliers

News You Can Use: 12/28/2016

CEOs still don’t ‘get’ what their procurement teams do

“While a stagnant economy proved a fertile breeding ground for successful cost reduction strategies, the function needs to adapt to the new environment and demonstrate its versatility if it is to always be seated at the board table. For example, highlight how the department’s risk management programmes minimise the potential impact that a disaster could have on the business bottom line or the added value it can bring to the company’s corporate social responsibility programme and show how procurement is driving innovation within the supply chain, giving the company that competitive edge.”

You have two basic choices: either build your own internal means of vetting the code and applying product management processes, or rely on an intermediary to perform that function. You can make an argument for creating the processes for pulling down source code, determining legal compliance, applying patches, and getting it ready for production yourself, but it is expensive from a human resources point of view. You should base your decision whether or not to self-direct the process on its strategic importance to the company and some ROI analysis: If you build a team to manage that process for some software components, will you see a sufficient return on that investment?

Kartik Gada joined Google to talk about his e-book the ATOM. The book examines the new economics of technological disruption, and its impact on governments, businesses, and society. The Atom is a 14-chapter e-book that contains novel concepts, research, and policy

Follow-up to last week: Trump to tech CEOs: We’re there for you

“We want you to keep going with the incredible innovation,” Trump said. “There’s nobody like you in the world, in the world, there’s nobody like anyone in this room. And anything we can do to help this go along, and we’re going to be there for you.”

Among the issues the tech CEOs might discuss with Trump is his proposed curbs to immigration. Silicon Valley relies on bringing in large numbers of immigrants every year or keeping them in the U.S. after college. Making immigration more difficult or restricting the number of H-1B high-skill visas available could cause tech companies problems.

In 2017 we will see supplier relationship management (SRM) come of age. Sitting in a unique position between the supply base and the business, procurement has a real opportunity to leverage that position to bring new innovations into the business. Capitalizing on their supplier management role, we will see more procurement teams using insight and market intelligence to seek out new suppliers and different ways of working to leapfrog endless iterations of ‘business as usual’ to really drive change. Moving away from reacting to the business or finding a cheaper way of working, the more challenging business environment will see procurement teams looking externally for innovative suppliers that can revolutionize the existing business and make a significant impact on the bottom line.